Australians Lost More Than $33 Billion To Cybercrime Last Year, One Case Reported Every 8 Minutes

Last fiscal year, Australians filed 67,500 cybercrime reports, the vast majority of which were related to the pandemic. This equates to one cybercrime reported every eight minutes.

The figure represents a 13% year-on-year increase, equating to one report of a cyberattack every eight minutes. Last year, self-reported cybercrime losses totalled more than $33 billion.

Isolation orders and a rapid shift to working from home increased the amount of time individuals and businesses spent online, according to the ACSC, giving malicious cyber actors more opportunities to exploit vulnerable people.

According to the ACSC report, phishing emails took advantage of the pandemic environment by framing cons around COVID-related topics and encouraging people to enter personal credentials in order to access COVID-related information or services.

From the beginning of July 2020 to the end of June 2021, the ACSC received over 1500 cybercrime reports per month relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, the department removed over 110 malicious COVID-19-themed websites.

Criminals frequently attempted to use critical services to persuade victims to pay ransoms, resulting in the health care sector becoming a major target for ransomware attacks this year.

According to the ACSC, critical infrastructure accounted for roughly 25% of all reported cyber security incidents over the year, with sectors such as education, communication, electricity, and water experiencing frequent cybercrime incidents.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF AUSTRALIA’S CYBER CRIME DATA?

• Cyber Report received over 67,500 cybercrime reports.
• Over the course of the year, cyber reporting was fairly consistent.
• Queensland had the highest proportion of reports, accounting for 30%.
• Victoria came in second at 29 percent, with NSW coming in third at 18 percent.
• Fraud and cybercrime accounted for approximately 23% of total reports, with shopping coming in second at 17%.
• Total losses – remember, these are self-reported – have surpassed $33 billion.
• The majority of those affected were medium-sized businesses.
• 1300 CYBER1 received 60 calls per day.
• Over the year, Australia saw a significant increase in ransomware attacks, which increased to nearly 500 — nearly 15% more than the previous year.
• Approximately 1,630 cybersecurity incidents were handled by the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC).
• It also took down over 7,700 websites that hosted cybercrime activity.